Elmore's Eyes
by shawshankUPL
Summary: Woo, second fanfic. This is dystopian take on TAWoG based on the episode "The Genius," where it is revealed Elmore's government will take away any genius children. Some fellow comrades thought that would make for a good story, and I agreed. Please, enjoy.


**Elmore's Eyes**

by Shawshank

Nicole Watterson drove down the streets of Elmore in her 1970's sedan. She was alert, observing her surroundings carefully, brutally aware of the cameras at each intersection and the police officers on every street. She was also aware of every mindless person walking on the street or driving on the road, with their fake schedules and their fake motivations, living their fake lives. The blue cat did her best to remain inconspicuous, driving neither too fast nor too slow, obeying all traffic signs with plenty of caution. There were eyes on her at all times, watching constantly, seeing everything.

Billboards were placed strategically around the streets. "_Happiness comes from the heart, not the mind," _read one, in large letters with a big read heart on the side. Another one had a large yellow smiley face with the words _"The only clear conscience is the one free from thought."_ Nicole glared at these signs, which always stirred her anger, no matter how many time she passed them.

She glanced at her rear-view mirror, smiling at her children riding in the back seat: Gumball, Darwin, and Anais. They were talking quietly amongst themselves and digging through their backpacks, making sure they had everything ready for school. All three were brilliant young children, each creative and intelligent, well beyond what they were taught at school. But Nicole made sure that they kept that to themselves and tried to fit in, so as to avoid any unwanted attention.

The school was in view, just a few intersections away. It was a big building, meant to hold a large number of students. Being of similar age, Gumball and Darwin had been in the same grade since they began school. Anais, though she was young, had advanced past several grades, much to her mother's chagrin, and attended Elmore Junior High with her brothers.

Nicole turned around to her children while stopped at an intersection light. "Now remember kids..." she began.

"Yeah, yeah, mom, we know," they interrupted. "You tell us every morning."

"I'm serious. It is very important," Nicole replied as she turned around. Gumball turned to the other two with a very serious look on his face, as he mouthed Nicole's speech with exaggeration, word for word. "We have to try our hardest, every day, to remain out of sight and out of mind. You all mean everything to me and to your father. But if they found out how smart and different you are, we could lose you."

At this point Gumball had a comically sad expression on his face, eyes large and watery, while the other children giggled at him. Nicole glanced at the rear-view mirror while slowly pulling in front of the school. "Quite the performance, Gumball," she said with mock indignation, before laughing herself. They all opened their doors and exited the vehicle, the children lining up on the sidewalk. Nicole kneeled down in front of them.

"I really mean it, though. You really must do all you can to not stand out," Nicole said with a more stern voice.

"We get it by this point, mom. We know what to do," Darwin said.

"Yeah, mom. You don't have to worry about us," Anais put in.

"I always worry, all the time," Nicole said. "If something were to happen, I don't know what I would do. Remember what happened to Rocky..."

Sadness swept onto the children's faces, mixed with guilt in the case of Anais. Nicole regretted bringing it up, but her point had been made. She drew her kids together and hugged them all at once. They looked up into her face and smiled, before struggling loose and running to join the rest of their classmates gathered around the front of the school. Nicole stood and smiled, watching her children mingle, before sighing and walking back to her side of the vehicle.

She drove away from the school and rejoined the systematic traffic back on the main roads. Nicole knew her children were capable enough on their own. Gumball and Darwin especially blended well with their classmates, able to really appear dumb and dull when the situation called for it. If she hadn't known them so well, they probably could have fooled even her. They probably learned it from their father. Nicole gave a small chuckle. Richard Watterson, now there was a man who could look stupid. No one would ever be able to see past his veil of ridiculous behavior. Nicole sometimes thought he took it too far sometimes, like when he decides to forego pants when going out in public. She thought that would make it way too obvious. But people bought it, and nowadays no one in their right mind would ever expect Richard to be a man capable of deep thought.

It was Anais she had to worry about the most. Her daughter had a very hard time holding back, feeling the need to excel above those around her. It surprised Nicole in an ironic sort of way that it was her _daughter _and not her sons with the ego problem. Her constant posturing eventually earned her the advancements in grade, along with the prying eyes of every government official who would gladly snatch away anyone with the thought capacity for dissent.

That was not Anais's only mistake. The school system regularly ran thinly disguised tests to check the cognitive levels of students. Anais had decided, on an irresponsible whim, to throw caution to the wind and take the test at the fullest of her abilities. It was not her test that she filled out though, but Darwin's. This of course grabbed the attention of the school, and they acted, alerting the Elmore government. Darwin was taken away, and it took the orange fish's full acting skills to convince them that he was not, in fact, a genius. The government officials eventually returned Darwin, and the Watterson's managed to pin the test on Rocky Robinson, who was quickly taken by the officials. Anais had been spared, but the constant guilt of Rocky's abduction hung heavily on her, as Rocky remained missing. Anais's grades and tests had been average ever since that point, but coming so close to losing her son and daughter had left Nicole with a great deal of anxiety.

As she drove on further to the Rainbow Factory, Nicole noticed a new billboard, which must have been recently constructed. There was a skull and crossbones face next to the large and menacing words _"Ideas are like diseases."_ Nicole thought that subtlety was definitely not Elmore's strong suit, but then again it probably was subtle enough for their target audience.

The factory parking area was huge, a vast ocean of asphalt and paint, filled to the brim with cars. The Rainbow Factory itself was even bigger, with massive walls and towering stacks that reached far into the heavens, belching out black smoke that stained the sky.

Nicole found a relatively close spot and made the short walk to the factory entrance. The blue cat swiped her identification card and entered the building. Her job was not entirely terrible. Despite the overwhelming sense of oppression about the building, she worked an administration desk job, avoiding the dregs of the factory floor. Still, Nicole's tasks essentially amounted to no more than basic math. The position required little to no effort, but at the very least she was left to her own desk and her own thoughts.

Lately, however, she would have preferred less time for her mind to wander. All that ever came to the blue cat were thoughts of sadness, doubt, or fear. Why was there no one to resist such oppression? Was she doing all she could to protect her family? What if they are ever discovered? Over time these thoughts had driven Nicole a certain level of neuroticism, although completely warranted.

Nicole's mind began to clear when the bell rang for the lunch break. Nicole cynically thought of the break as nothing more than a small time for tittering misinformed fools to spread rumors and distract themselves from the rest of their day; basically no better than what she went through at school. It was not always so, however. Occasionally, there would be the rumor of disappearing people. Such was the case for this day. Nicole snapped to attention when these words circled around. It seemed someone who worked in their very own factory office had been missing for a few days, and people were just now wondering where he'd gone.

"Probably just out sick," suggested one person.

"Yes, yes. Or maybe unexpected vacation time," another chimed in.

"Maybe even got transferred," said another, and it continued on in this fashion. Nicole's mind was swimming by the time she returned to her desk. News of another abducted person brought up her usual worries in full force, but also gave rise to new thought. Nicole knew that Elmore had to be full of other people like her family, thinking and rational. But there was just no way to tell who was who. There had been a person in her own office, perhaps someone ten yards away from her, that shared her own views. And she hadn't even known it. If only there had been some way to _communicate _with others like herself...

The final bell rang, surprising Nicole and knocking her out of her thoughts. The day was over, and it was time to pick up her children from school. She quickly gathered her things and made for the door, needing to rush to get the kids in time. Luckily she could always beat the factory traffic; those on the floor worked longer, which was the majority of the workers. But she was still always late, making her children wait outside of the school for several minutes after all the other children have left on the busses. Still, she preferred to be the one driving them home.

Nicole's drive back to the school was mostly uneventful, as traffic was always systematic, with everyone obeying traffic laws perfectly. The new billboard she had passed had a different message on the back. _"Strength through unity. Unity through obedience"_ was written next to a crude drawing of a family, all smiling and holding hands.

As Nicole drew near the school, with the entrance in sight, something was wrong. There were only two figures, not three, waiting on the sidewalk where she usually picked up her kids. As Nicole got closer, there were still only the two figures, one orange and one pink; she could recognize them now as Darwin and Anais. Her heart began racing, she began sweating, and a deep sense of dread rested in the pit of her stomach. She pulled up to the curb in front of the school more quickly than usual, jumped out of the car and ran to Darwin and Anais.

"Where is Gumball?" Nicole yelled, eyes ablaze, causing the two children to shrink back in fear. Nicole caught herself, drew in a deep breath, calmed slightly, and knelt down, bringing the children in closer. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But please. Where is your brother?"

Darwin and Anais looked at each other, avoiding their mother's gaze. "We're not sure," Darwin finally said. "Before Miss Simian let us out, she asked Gumball to stay behind."

"Why?" asked Nicole.

"I don't know," answered Darwin. "But today was a test day..."

Nicole stood up quickly. "Kids, get in the car, lock the doors, and stay there." With that, she walked towards to school at a brusque pace. She felt like screaming on the inside, but on the outside she remained calm and collected. It was possible that nothing was wrong, that Gumball was asked to stay for some other reason. At least, that was what Nicole tried to tell herself.

Once inside, Nicole made straight for the school's front office. She knew where to go, as she had herself attended Elmore Junior High years ago. Inside, she found who she was looking for.

"Principle Brown, do you have a moment?" Nicole asked in a strained voice. The brown furred man looked up from his paperwork.

"Why yes, Mrs. Watterson. What can I do for you?" Brown replied.

"Well, it seems Gumball was held back after class. I was wondering if you could tell me why," Nicole said. She watched for a reaction, concentrating on anything the principle might give away.

"Oh dear," drawled Brown. His tone was sympathetic on the outside, but Nicole could hear a hint of mocking satisfaction. "Your son has always been somewhat of a trouble maker. It wouldn't surprise me if he had pushed Miss Simian a little bit too far." He gave Nicole what she thought was a knowing look. She took a step backwards towards the door.

"Thank you, Principle Brown," she said as she turned around to leave.

"One more thing, Mrs. Watterson." Nicole froze. "I think I speak on behalf of us all here at the school when I say that you really should talk to your children about their test scores. I'm sure they have plenty of potential..." Nicole didn't look back, and walked out of the office, her mind racing. _What did he mean by that? _she thought. _Does he know? He must know. That smug bastard._

Instead of turning towards the exit, Nicole went the opposite direction. She was going to find her son, and no one was going to stop her. She remembered where his classroom should be. As Nicole made her way down the hall, her heart began racing at an alarming speed, her mind filled with thoughts of worst case scenarios. A ball of terror deep in her chest was expanding, growing, making it difficult to breath. She walked faster and faster, until she was almost running. Small tears fell from her eyes, off her cheek and on to the floor. She passed room after room, reading the numbers on both sides of the hallway, having a hard time at it with her increasingly blurred vision.

In the back of her mind, she realised she had to refrain from making a scene. Although the school was mostly empty, there was still the occasional teacher. She had to keep the rest of her family safe, even if Gumball had been taken...

Nicole arrived at Gumball's classroom. She took a deep breath, and opened the door slowly. She looked around inside, but there was nothing to see; no one was inside. She was too late. Tears began flowing as she placed her head in her hands, covering her face. _Too late, too late. _She stood there, defeated, knowing that she would never see her son again, that he would be taken away, carted off to some unknown place. And now her family would be in danger as well. If one of her children was worth taking away, what of the others?

Horrified, she realised that Darwin and Anais were still waiting in the car. Before she could move, however, she heard a voice behind her.

"Mom? What are you doing here?"

Nicole turned around slowly, and saw Gumball, through tear stained eyes, standing in the middle of the hallway. She ran over to her son, dropped to her knees, and embraced him, holding him tight, her eyes closed. He hugged back. Nicole clutched her son and wept silently, her body heaving with each noiseless sob.

"It's okay mom, I'm okay. Teacher just wanted to tell me that my test scores were low, and that I really should try harder. I told her I would do my best," Gumball said. Nicole opened her eyes and brought her head back to look at Gumball's face. He gave her a wry smile and a wink. Nicole couldn't help but smile back. The two cats embraced each other for another minute, before Nicole wiped her face with her arm. She stood up and took her son's hand in her own. Together, they walked down the hall and towards the school exit.

New thoughts began to surface in Nicole's mind. This moment had pushed her over an edge, and now she thought of more than just hiding and blending. She was tired of living in constant fear, the terror of discovery looming overhead. _Perhaps they are right, _she thought. _Ideas really are like diseases. And diseases can kill._

**END**


End file.
